Pathfinder Tales: Master of Devils

On a mysterious errand for the Pathfinder Society, Count Varian Jeggare and his hellspawn bodyguard Radovan journey to the distant land of Tian Xia, on the far side of the world. When disaster forces him to take shelter in a warrior monastery, “Brother” Jeggare finds himself competing with the disciples of Dragon Temple as he unravels a royal mystery. Meanwhile, Radovan—trapped in the body of a devil and held hostage by the legendary Quivering Palm attack—must serve a twisted master by defeating the land’s deadliest champions and learning the secret of slaying an immortal foe. Together with an unlikely army of beasts and spirits, the two companions must take the lead in an ancient conflict that will carry them through an exotic land, all the way to the Gates of Heaven and Hell and a final confrontation with the nefarious Master of Devils!

From fan-favorite author Dave Gross comes a new fantastical adventure set in the award-winning world of the Pathfinder Roleplaying Game.

builds to amazing crescendo

we are off the the eastern lands of Tien Xia, and a world of asian mysteries. Mr. Gross wonderfully writs in a way wher ethe characters points of view slowly are saturated with the culture, so things that they seem as odd or impossible (like ki powers, massive leaps, kung fu movie kind of stuff) seem bizarre at first, but as they are assimilated into the culture, their point-of-view stlye narratives begin to shift to it being par for the course - as usual one of Dave Gross' best attributes is his ability to allow the reader to see changes, patterns, and even flaws in the lead characters that they themselves cannot see.

and thats just my praise for the writing style. The plot and evocative setting is just wonderful. It starts out as a great fanciful yarn with an exotic locale, and begins to spin faster and faster as different plot threads build momentum into an inevitable grand collision - youll find yourself reading faster and faster the closer you get to the end! In many ways it reminds me of gabriel garcia marquez' 100 years of solitude with its ability to suck the reader in with an ever-quickening pace.

The 36 chambers of the shaolin!

THE GOOD:
This 2nd novel of Count Varian Jeggare and Radovan Virholt is great again, even better than the first one - because it adds a 3rd hero - the dog Arnisant!

So far the only novel to take place in Tian Xia (asia), Dave Gross captures the mood perfectly and there are great homages to martial arts movies.

THE BAD:
The things the characters do are not possible with the Pathfinder rules so far - this is later changed (Inner Sea Magic/Riffle scrolls) and explained (King of Chaos/Count Jeggares spellcasting and Radovans transformation) - but i am still waiting for the double quivering palm attack rules. ;-)

Schemes and Sorcery in the Far East!

A very, very fun story starring once again Varian Jeggare and his companion/bodyguard/partner Radovan, and promoted to full cast member for the first time Jeggare's wolfhound pet Arnisant, whose surprising role as a central, narrating character caught me pleasantly off-guard.

As the three are separated during a bandit attack that goes horribly wrong when a pack of tigers shows up, all three suddenly find themselves being propelled in unexpected directions through the landscape of Golarion's Far East.

Jeggare becomes an unwitting student at a monastery, where he must overcome the distaste of his fellow students for a "foreign devil" and his own Chelish pride while investigating the mysteries surrounding a beautiful princess, a mysterious bodyguard, and one of his elite fellow students.

Radovan finds himself prisoner to Burning Cloud Devil, the titular Master of Devils, a vengeful sorcerer and self-proclaimed King of Heroes who is on a mission of destruction with Radovan as his weapon of choice, on pain of a very unpleasant death. Bonus points to Dave for the frequent inclusion of the amusing phrase "my g#%!+*ned little brother".

And Arnisant, separated from his master and his best friend, seeks out the aid of the kami Judge Fang, who leads him on a quest to gather spirits, beasts, and other mysterious entities for an impending conflict, and along the way proves himself as much a hero as his two humanoid companions.

The three viewpoints are far improved and much more balanced than in Prince of Wolves, where it seemed all the entertaining or action-packed chapters tended to be in Radovan's narration and Jeggare's chapters tended to be slower-paced. Watching the three separate storylines interweave and move steadily and inexorably toward their inevitable collision was a fun ride, and leaves me eager for more of Gross's work and excellent characters.

And here's hoping this isn't the last we see of Arnisant's narration. The first few of his chapters had me rolling in laughter, especially with Gust and the Goblin-who-Swallowed-the-Wind, the unnamed spider woman (I presume intended to be a Jorogumo), and the Great Turtle.